At least 41 inmates at a women’s prison in Honduras died on Tuesday in an incident that family members say may have been triggered by a clash between members of rival gangs.
Public Ministry spokesman Yuri Mora said in a telephone interview that the initial number of 25 deaths at the Women’s Center for Social Adaptation, located about 20 kilometers from Tegucigalpa, had been updated to 41, and detailed that the victims died “mostly burned and others shot”.
The official did not give details about the origin of the violence because he must be informed by the Penitentiary Institute after the investigations, he clarified.
Authorities are working to identify the bodies, spokesman Mora said, amid reports by local media that a riot had broken out at the prison located about 20 kilometers from Tegucigalpa, the country’s capital.
Relatives of the prisoners rushed outside the prison to find out about the status of their relatives. The center has a room where 23 children live, according to Evelyn Escoto, commissioner at the National Center for the Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (Conaprev).
Honduras has a long history of violence in its overcrowded prisons, among the best known is a February 2012 fire that left 360 people dead and was later declared accidental by US experts.
(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia and Isabel Woodford)
Source: CNN Brasil
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